Samuel Goldwyn Acquires U.S. Rights To ‘The Last Of Robin Hood’

Lifetime Films has made a sale on its first pic, with Samuel Goldwyn Films acquiring U.S. rights to the Kevin Kline-starrer The Last Of Robin Hood. A fall theatrical bow is planned for the biopic, which bowed at Toronto last fall. Co-written and co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, the biopic focuses on the final years of Errol Flynn (Kline) and his May-December romance with starlet Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), and the role of Aadland’s mother (Susan Sarandon) in encouraging the relationship. Bryan Batt, Max Casella, Jason Davis, Matt Kane, Patrick St. Esprit, Ric Reitz, and Justina Machado co-star. “The Last Of Robin Hood captures a very unique aspect of Hollywood and celebrity,” Samuel Goldwyn Films SVP Peter Goldwyn said in announcing the pickup.

“The film takes place in 1959, but it might as well be 2014. You have an aging superstar struggling to maintain his fame, a starlet chasing her big break, a manipulative ‘stage’ mother, and the public’s timeless curiosity, almost obsession with, ‘celebrity.’ The non-stop, sensational tabloid coverage of Errol Flynn’s life and relationship mirrors exactly the kind of coverage this story would receive in Hollywood 55 years later.”

Lifetime network-affiliated Lifetime Films was launched as a division of A+E Studios in June 2013 and develops, produces and acquires female-focused indie movies. Robin Hood was its first project. It since has partnered with Viola Davis, Julius Tennon’s JuVee Prods. and Sara Risher’s ChickFlicks to produce Lila And Eve, starring Davis and Jennifer Lopez.

A Lifetime Films presentation in association with Killer Films and Big Indie Pictures, The Last Of Robin Hood was produced by Declan Baldwin, Maggie Malina, Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon. Executive producers include Todd Haynes, Rob Sharenow, Tanya Lopez, Molly Thompson, Colleen McCormick and Lisa Hamilton Daly. The rights deal was negotiated by Samuel Goldwyn’s Ian Puente and by Molly Thompson of Lifetime Films/A+E Studios and Cinetic Media’s John Sloss on behalf of the filmmakers.